Thus in reply, many of the unions adopted a further appeasing approach, by reducing the number of strikes and tried to negotiate contracts providing job securities for its members. While the unions have been doing well in organizing government employees, they have been less successful in recruiting office workers due to the unlimited development of services sector. By 1996 the number of strikes in the U.S.A. had reached its lowest level in the past 50 years. In 1960 one third of the American workers belonged to a union but by 2003 the proportion had dropped to less than 13%. Unions need a vision for the new global economy. Union leaders seem genuinely to believe that their glory days will return if only they can defeat President Bush, or oust Tom DeLay as House Majority Leader. But their real obstacle is the reality of the modern global economy. Until they offer workers something more than class warfare, circa 1955, they will continue to decline. (Wall Street)
As unionism was on a decline, the Human Resource Management gained more recognition. Sophisticated human resource management (HRM) strategies, under a unique philosophy, have significant potential to contradict the role of unions through a focus on a unified commitment by employees to the organization. This helped improve the relationship between the employees and the employer directly, thus marginalizing the function of unions in the workplace and...
This helped in decreasing the numbers of trade union and thus providing a safer environment for the employers. The Human Resources helped the employers as the employees cannot force their demands and threaten them through their unions (e.g. strikes). This would also decrease the possibility of conflicts between the workers of the trade unions (e.g. creation of two or more groups with-in the trade union having different interests). While on the other hand the HRM had disadvantages too, as the employees who want their genuine demands fulfilled cannot force their employers to accept them. But the HRM over all has more positive points and thus it can further help in improving the conditions of the businesses by decreasing the effect of unions on them.
Bibliography
Ramaswamy, E.A., and F.B. Schiphorst. "Human Resource Management, Trade Unions and Empowerment: Two Cases from India. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. (2000) 664-680.
Human Resources. Inc. (2003) 72
Storey, John. Developments in the Management of Human Resources an Analytical Review. Warwick studies in industrial relations. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1992.
Black, John, and Darren McCabe. In Bed with Management Trade Union Involvement in an Age of HRM. [Telford]: Wolver Hampton Business School, Management Research Centre, 1997.
